He made his remarks on BBC Radio Scotland following a call from the director of CBI Scotland, Iain MacMillan, to sell the water company and save public money.
MacMillan pointed out the water industry is privatised south of the border. He said: “Through deliberate policy choices the Scottish government is having to spend money that they would not otherwise have to spend.”
Swinney responded: “There is no way the government will privatise Scottish Water.
“I think that is essentially the general and settled view of the people in Scotland that they want their water industry, which of course is an enormous economic asset to Scotland.”
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